Francis Nimmo - Research Interests
I am interested in how planets and satellites have evolved to their current states, and what explains the planetary diversity we see. For instance, why are Enceladus and Io geologically active, but not Mimas or Callisto? Why do the Earth and Ganymede possess magnetic fields at the present day, while Mars and Europa do not? To answer questions like these requires a combination of present-day observations and geophysical models.
I am working on two main areas right now (click on each image for more details). I am also generally looking for PhD students interested in these (or other) topics.
Icy Satellites Building Planets
Although these topics form a lot of my current work, I have various other interests, including Mars, dynamo generation on asteroids and planets, and tectonic features on Mercury. You can also get an idea of other things I am working on by looking at my published and submitted papers.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences home page
Last Modified:14th Sept 2011.